wow...4th page! with this that far back, i was expecting some shitty or super long song no one wanted to review. I'm digging this Kvist...reminds me abit of Gehennas first few albums. Not overly fast but some good melody from both the guitars and the keyboards and not overly done as some bands too. They still keep that raw-ish edge to them yet the atmosphere is great which makes this song very enjoyable to me. Also, its not jsut one riff/sound the entire song as they change it up with different riffs and increase in tempo such is the case the last minute of the song where some blasting emerges and the song builds to a climax with the drumming and keybaords and one final scream to finish the song...very cool and impressed as really like this style of black metal. Gonna listen to the rest of the album that i can find on youtube. Thanks for posting this!

Strange cover art, it reminds me of Tormentor's Anno Domini. Musically, I'm reminded of some more of Aeternus's more atypical moments, but this is doomier still. The keyboards are a nice touch and the guitars are thick and melodic, quite satisfying. Definitely it sounds more like a doom track than a black metal one. Hell, this could be a Solstice track if you took away the vocals and keys. Its majestic, lumbering pace is pleasant and definitely nice to listen too. But the structure seems circular; the first four minutes seem to be spent going round and round without much in the way of forward momentum. After this we do get a change; bagpipe keyboards (!!?) and then a tempo change. The tempo change was needed but I'm not sure how well put-together it was. This is a promising track with some good ideas, but I'm just not too sure about how it's put together. The eight minute length is pushing it a bit, too, I think this would better with some re-structuring, even if the individual ideas are all quite good.

Ahh yes... This album is a firm favourite of mine ever since it's release, when I finally got my hands on it, and heard it for the first time. This album is colossal - both in it's beautifully, raw, yet powerful production, and in it's deft, razor-sharp song craft. The guitars roar with all the fire and brimstone you would expect, and Frederik Andersson's drumming is both pummeling and precise. What you will notice in all the razorwire riffing and steamrolling drum work, is the fucking ENORMOUS demonic scythe of B War's bass, laying down sub-frequencies of sonic mayhem, forming one hell of a backbone. Seriously. It's presence is massive, and welcome. This also happens to one of my personal picks from the album (aside from the amazing Materialized In Stone and Sulphur Souls), with it's dreadful, arpeggio crawl at the very start, recounting the tale of a "sanctified" murder, which the vocalist calmly narrates at the listener before the band unleashes hell in a flurry of blastbeats and distorted, melodic violence. For it's time Opus Nocturne was a hellish beast, and it still holds it's head high twenty years down the line, due to it's excellent production values and stunning black metal hymns. A true classic of the genre.

Mother fucker! I thought I had sampled Svartsyn a few times but I don't remember anything like this. Talk about a mission statement...this band wants to murder you with riffs. Just riffs piled on top of riffs bursting out the sides with other riffs. The production is straight-razor sharp and creates the perfect canvas to paint something unholy on. I love this. I'm kind of genuinely surprised how much. The song spends most of it's length at a racing pace, sounding like they are determined to play beyond their means. Not a one trick pony, they do release a little tension with a short grooving section. The guitarwork is relentless and barbed, and the drums are completely manic. Wouldn't be surprised if Dissection were a big influence. I would love to see this band play with Inquisition sometime. The whole album appears to be pretty short too...I'm going to try to own this I think.

you're right, its a good song....kind of an old school style of Black metal in terms of the production. Some cool riffs throughout the song. Vocals are not the typical BM in style with more of a rough style rather than raspy growls. The song kinda moves along at an enjoyable pace until just after 2 minutes where things change to more uptempo and rather than the aformentioned rough vocals some clean vocals with some high falsettos come in and remind me of something Iron Maiden would sound like with rougher production...actually quite cool and through me off guard when it first came in as was not expecting that at all. I'm glad it did as really enjoyed the mix of different styles. AFter the clean vocals section, teh tempo continues to increase but now with a growl. Even with these different vocal stylings the song fits all together quite well...definitely piqued my interest in the band

I've heard most of their discography and have to say I hate almost all of it. This comes from one of the few releases I don't downright despise. The bookend releases of their discography are the only ones I enjoy, their final album re-iferming the genius of Type O Negative more than anything and their debut EP showing them not having yet descended into full on atrociousness. This features a stronger leaning towards black metal and isn't heavy on the acoustic strumming awfulness we'd see on later releases. This is heavier and features less aimless meandering. The lyrics still suck and his clean vocals still are quite bad, but at least those aren't used as prominently. I wouldn't call this outright good, but it's certainly more tolerable than almost anything else they've done.

hmmm, not quite sure what to make of this...i do like this style of BM but i do find it will sometimes take me a while to notice the nuances of the song as at first listen i hear the drumming constantly in your face blasting away. A few minutes in when the softer section begins, i find that section drags on abit too long....when the tempo picks back up, the song clicks alot more for me. The steady double base over the melodic guitar really has a nice atmosphere to it and a song i thought was doomed has redeamed itself and has become quite enjoyable. So good song, although that first section just didn't click with me...definitely promise from the second half.....enough to maybe check out this album

Interesting. Nice clean sounding pummeling black metal. Moving along at a quick steady pace there is not a lot of variation, at least pace wise, which isn't necessarily a bad thing as it stays interesting as it slowly builds the guitars and layers on top of each other. The drum machine (I assume) sounds organic and not too robotic. Black metal vocals here are pretty standard.

I had never heard of this band but I like this song from the very first second. From the name, while I was waiting for the ad before the video play begin, I though it was gothic metal. This is very straight to the point Death Metal with hints of Thrash Metal. A combination that can't fail. The main riff is rather simple and catchy, the kind of riff that certainly will echo in my mind for sometime. The vocals are harsh and raw, perfect for the band's purpose. Not really innovative, but fun nevertheless.

Another semi-classic from the early 90's which I'm a pretty big fan of. This is some raging black thrash, with enough spiked leather, bullets and fucking attitude to sink the Bismark all over again. This could be called a shameless throwback in style but goddamn it does kick ass. The riffing is sharp and furious, as is the pounding, crashing drums and audible, thumping bass with maniacal vocals ruling all. This has everything for me that makes the whole black/thrash thing awesome, and even though the production is a little wiry on the guitars - the whole bees in a tin can thing, it's still very cool, as are the mournful, and rather tasty leads over the spiked riffs. It's relatively simple, to the point and doesn't muck about, which I like. Nifelheim made some waves way back when with this, and their later albums I believe got even nastier in their approach, but for a debut, this was cool as hell. Good stuff.

I admit I've never been much of a fan of the specific genre In Solitude play. But being honest though, I liked that song a lot.The riffs are great, varied and they never stop or slow down, kind of reminded me of Slough Feg and Satan in some occasions. The solo is cool and short, I like it. The vocals I thought were really cool also, obviously inspired by Candlemass. Where this shines is obviously in the riff department, so even if everything else sucked this song would be worth it just for that. Way more interesting than Sister.

Pretty powerful opening guitar section this has - plenty of balls to it, with a cool lead behind it. Then it plunges straight into pure power metal territory, but the vocals didn't grab me immediately as they sounded rather sedate compared to the energy this kicked off with, which seems rather odd, considering this is a relatively high energy number. The actual chorus is pretty sweet, nice use of harmonization that has a majestic ring to it, decrying The Pillars of Eden in ruin indeed. This has plenty of riffing variation going in all the way through this, and gets proper heavy in places, with bluesy riffs thrown in for good measure, along with the skillful solos. This is another band that knows how to hold back, and not randomly, and blatantly spray shredding solos around, just because they can - that shit irritates me no end, but these guys are more restrained with them, and use them for impact and grandiose purpose. The vocalist still doesn't blow me away though, as he's competent, but far from outstanding, but everything else is top notch musically, if a little safe. Not bad, but I won't be hunting these guys down.

^ I know this is not the thread for it but I highly recommend their debut album. Full of amazing riffs throughout. The vocals are somewhat weird but I'd say they are easily some of the best in the genre by far, you just have to get used to them.

_________________...Don't turn out the lightsCause there's demons in the nightAnd they prey on the fears in us all...

This is the shit. The atmosphere is otherworldly, hellish and perverse. Really nice bass tone highlights the strong thrash influence, otherwise this is death metal in the old style? Never heard of this band but I like it. The lead guitar is the best part - completely nebulous and weird with lots of slapstick effects like divebombs and such. Ghoulish stuff. Vocals/lyric delivery is furious and convincing. I'm impressed by this and will look them up.

Ok so this is a modern-day black metal band that could probably fall into that "extreme" category we put bands like 1349 in - a lot of hyper-blast and screaming. But thankfully this song (album, I hope) doesn't feed it the jandal the entire time - it backs off and there's a really cool atmosphere behind it all in the production, but you only really notice it when they give it some room to breathe. There's also a very strong Anthems to the Welkins at Dusk influence here, both in riffs/licks and song structure. Also, if I'm not mistaken, a few nods to latter-day Graveland in the melodies. I'm on my third listen now and I like it quite a bit, although I daresay a full album would overpower me.

This is essential. Gorement do everything right - riffs that are primal and viscerally heavy yet just sophisticated enough to really craft some memorable tunage. The guitars aren't melodic as you'd usually use the word but create a ghoulish harmonic soundscape that creates a nice gloomy, gothic atmosphere. The vocals are unreal. Love the band, love the album.

I was hoping based on the name this was their tribute to Bolt Thrower. Maybe it is but they're miles away if so. The artwork is incredible. Guitar tone doesn't do a lot for me. Real "heavy" and real loud but it just feels sort of rehashed and tired. Like they chose "death metal #3" from a computer screen or something. The intro riff and quick-change to a speedier sound was pretty cool. Vocals are buried as fuck, tortured bellows. There's nothing going on here that is in the least way bad but it also doesn't move me at all. I would think they're probably a ton of "fun" live. The whole song sounds like it was written to get people moving in a circle. The first 20 seconds is definitely my favorite part. There's a groove at the end that sets up one last burst of speed. The whole song probably could have been about a minute shorter for my money. If you're looking for punk riffs played through a death metal tone with black metal aesthetics this seems to be the band for you! I'm not, though.

This is one of those tracks everyone stops and goes duuuuudeeeee to because it's just so fucking off the wall. What does one call this? Some mind of death thrash hardcore hybrid. It's also perfect demo shit: great performance recorded so piss-assedly it's almost unlisteninable save for a few super salty licks thrown in there and of course those ludicrous but fun vocals. This is weird but unhinged and ferocious. This is truly ugly. I like it.

Intro.. sounds like doom to me, let's see, sounds cool, pretty psychedelic. Riffing is pretty legit, its psych doom so you know what to expect, lots of more mellow passages. Vocals are ok, pretty typical of this style. I'd say it goes on a little long and there isnt enough variation. But overall pretty cool

Well, it's an almost metal cover of that David Hasselhoff song that's kinda cool. Well, it's not exactly Garth Marenghi's 'One Track Lover' when it comes to fake 80s, is it? Still, quite entertaining - they guitarist has his 80s metal moves down (but not the axe, fuck Devin Townsend!) and the singer is alright; hitting the right notes with a fairly strong Italian accent. Not bad, but I feel that they could have upped the hair metal action a bit.

Ok so here's some pretty no-frills Hungarian (I assume by the album title?) 80s traditional/power metal. It's essentially a whole giant bundle of Kai Hansen-isms, especially in the singer's upper register and the construction/execution of the chorus, which I swear is almost directly lifted from Eagle Fly Free. The singer isn't very good - he has a really nasal, grating voice... oddly enough, reminiscent of an out-of-key Toshi from X-Japan. Guitar tone is pretty cool, and the lead player has some cool ideas, but it's missing a whole heap of RIFFS. I hate to sound like you-know-who, but this keeps trying to throw riffs at me and none of them are really RIFFS. To be honest, it's not very good... it just sounds like a bog version of Keeper of the Seven Keys pt. 2. It HAS inspired me to put that album on though, so 6.5/10.

I've been looking to get into Pokolgep lately. That whole album sounded pretty cool to me. It's not very fast but they've got a "riffier take on Accept" kinda thing going. I wish their stuff was easier to get ahold of.

In my mind Turner only likes mid-1990s groove metal. Anyway, calling them Helloween clones or something of that ilk is doing them a massive disservice; they were doing that stuff at the same time, if not earlier, than Helloween's Keeper stuff. The second Pokolgep album came out in the same year as Keeper I and since there's no date on the MA release there's every chance that it came out before. Their albums aren't cheap, Jonpo, but they're certainly worth it!

_________________'Sometimes you have to be a bigot in order to beat bigger bigots' - G. Marenghi.

So this is more of that cavernous death metal that is (was?) all the rage. As the opening instrumental I assume this is not indicative of the entire album, however I did like the rock-esque part in the middle and the solo towards the end. Nothing I haven't heard before from bands of this ilk, but certainly something to discover nonetheless. Need to hear some of the vocals to really get a good feel for the album. 7.5/10

In my mind Turner only likes mid-1990s groove metal. Anyway, calling them Helloween clones or something of that ilk is doing them a massive disservice; they were doing that stuff at the same time, if not earlier, than Helloween's Keeper stuff. The second Pokolgep album came out in the same year as Keeper I and since there's no date on the MA release there's every chance that it came out before. Their albums aren't cheap, Jonpo, but they're certainly worth it!

Hey now, I like groove metal of all eras!Seriously though, I didn't look into that band's history... I just purely went on comparing it (being a 1989 release according to the dude that uploaded it) to what it immediately brought to mind. And considering it sounds like amateur hour Helloween, I just kinda made the leap to assuming they came after.

I really liked the few seconds of opening industrial noise; the actual riffs, not so much. The vocals sort of grated against the instrumentation rather than backing it up, which was kind of annoying, especially given their pervasive presence for pretty much the whole run time of the song. There were a couple of more' groovy' moments that sort of got me nodding my head, but they were few and far between. It wasn't bad, it's just not really my thing.

I'm glad this thread still lives and am sorry I haven't had a chance to play in a while. But don't forget: post the name of the song you're reviewing, not the name of the song you're putting up for the next person. And do post the name of the song you're reviewing, because youtube links tend not to last.

_________________Hush! and harkTo the sorrowful cryOf the wind in the dark.Hush and hark, without murmur or sigh,To shoon that tread the lost aeons:To the sound that bids you to die.

^ Try a little harder when you're reviewing a song, it's a mini-review but give us something more than "oh this sounds like some other stuff I've heard."

Sewer - The Pedosadist

Well, they live up to their name because that was shitty. The intro...composed on Fruity Loops? A MIDI piano? It sounds goofy and out of place. When the song starts proper you can pretty much only hear drums pounding away like an airstrike and some faint gurgling. The riffs are inaudible. The song is short, mercifully, but I think calling it a song is too generous. This was a wash of noise packaged in delinquent shockvalue tactics. More like a waste of everyone's time, mostly that of the boners responsible for this turd.

The SEWER guy is half conman, half spambot, ALL annoying. He only comes here every now and then to sneakily push his own stuff - in this thread, in the NP thread, and other threads that are presented as actual discussion but actually just revolve around some product he's trying to sell. Seriously, he has released a tribute album to his own band and pretends that a whole bunch of big-name bands like Immortal, Venom and Behemoth play on it. Then he runs a blog that shit-talks every black metal album ever but coincidentally gives his bands (the only non-Emperor-niveau bands on the list) stellar reviews. Can't this in some way be a permabannable/blackistable offence? At the very least, I hope he feels physical pain.

Kult of Taurus - Where no Moon Rises

Ok so by the sounds of this, we've got some DSBM on our hands? And the kinda disjointed type that takes its cues from stuff like Peste Noire and Beherit. I have to admit I'm not a huge fan of this style - there's an outside element in there that makes it sound awkward. I don't know what it is - I know a lot of people point to shoegaze, but I don't think that's it - it just sounds too clunky. The guitar tone is somehow not cutting enough, as if someone turned the distortion to about 3 out of 10 then just decided to play harder/sloppier to create a "vicious" sound. Black metal, and imo especially DSBM, needs to flow, and the combination of the ugly guitar tone and lack of cohesion turns me off. I like some DSBM, but not this, sadly.

I've never been crazy about this band, but I've got nothing against them. This is inoffensive, down home heavy metal the way your daddy knew it. Lots of chugging power chords, and a cool melodic, ringing chorus. The vocals are pretty good. Riffing and soloing is quality throughout though not really terribly interesting. It moves along at mid pace and there isn't much variation - the riffs don't really go anywhere and I was bored by the end of the tune. Definitely something I can enjoy and bang my head to but not anything I would go and buy.

Nice catchy mumbly riff to start things off. Yeah, this is pretty nice. The bizarre drawl of the vocalist really suits the music well, and the vocals are low enough in the mix that I can fully feel all of the riffs. The whole thing has this really sincere confidence it, and the quality of the actual musical content proves without a doubt that this confidence is far from misplaced. It's the sort of music you just primally feel. And, as soon as I finished writing this review I wanted to go back and listen to the song again. Great stuff.

What a kick ass song. I like the Emperor I've heard but ashamedly it is very little. This is excellent though - from the Prometheus album, it's not your typical black metal assault. The riffs are of a slight neo-classical bent with really cool orchestral/keyboard embellishments. The leads are excellent too, juicy harmonized guitar lines that add a lot of melody to the track. It's got a lot of ugly, groovy riffs that pop up too and I'm a big fan of the ultra-thick guitar tone. Ishan sounds great and the break in the middle when they unleash the full black metal assault rules. Great track, I'll have to check out this album now.

The thick, swampy guitar tone that permeates the whole thing is pretty great. The vocals are also excellent, they have a real "zealous preacher spitting curses at the sinful masses" vibe. Sadly, that doesn't save what is ultimately a track fueled by pretty dull riffs. For this kind of music to work, the riffs have to be great, and for the most part, they just aren't. They need to dig into your bones and primally hit, but instead they just sort of bounce around in this sort of disaffected internal dialogue.

Quite an interesting band here. The opening riffs are cool as hell, nice runs and plenty of variation, and the segment after the opener is as good a sit gets - heavy and ballsy, and that guitar tone is gravelly as fuck and a little rough around the edges with it. Yeah nice. Gotta say that the first proper falsetto from the vocalist caught me completely off guard haha, I mean I knew it would be coming at some point, but yeah, just threw me off for a second there. The vocals are well suited here, and plenty varied enough for the tale being told, with enough range to compliment the riffs. I like the fact that it doesn't rely on a too conventional structure, as it twists and turns about a bit keeping you entertained with where it's going with solid performances all round. I really dig the guitar tone (did I mention that?), nice and almost mean sounding. There are a few solos buried in here too, which add an extra something, without being excessive, along with a cool acoustic flourish timed perfectly. It's almost seven minutes too, but doesn't exactly feel over long. Not too bad I guess, it's saving graces are the passionate vocalist and the shining riffs/structure this has going for it. Epic without being over indulgent, and pretty damn heavy with it.

Ah, I've known this one for many years now. This album is one which is a bit divisive among Solitude Aeturnus fans... is it up there with their classics or a step down? I'd say it's among the band's best stuff (although I certainly don't worship this band, I do enjoy them every now and then). What's perhaps a little surprising for some might be that the opening here is a little... well, grungey. With that chorused clean guitar sound and Robert Lowe using a sort of grungey croan for most of the verses... could have been something from Dirt. In fact, he sounds like a cross between Tool's Maynard and Layne from Alice in Chains here. It's not until the guitar solos and Lowe starts reaching for his higher register that it starts sounding a bit more like a typical SA number. Still, a nice, dreamy number that works well in the context of the album. If I were to choose a song to introduce something to this album, however, I'd choose 'The 9th Day - Awakening'.

Yep, picked my brains there indeed. I was going to go with the The 9th day..., but opted for this one instead, as it's a rather cool mournful piece. The Alice In Chains reference isn't lost either, as it's very close, but as you pointed out, the leads and Lowe's higher, sorrowful reach take the comparison away. Still, I think it's a cool track from a pretty damn good album.

Joined: Sat Dec 24, 2011 2:16 pmPosts: 7869Location: The Land Down Under (no, not THAT one)

Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2015 11:25 pm

Virtue - We Stand To Fight

I love how clear and vibrant this sounds right off the bat, epic leads and riffs kicking your door in as soon as you press the "play" button. Vocals, meanwhile, are typical for the NWOBHM; not very skilled, exactly, but very earnest and natural, two qualities I can appreciate in any singer. However, the clear focus here are the guitars, and man, do they deliver! There's a strong sense of melody and scope here, despite how simplistic the tune at hand is, and in fact, it feels like a bit of a bridge between regular NWOBHM and USPM; wouldn't feel out of place paired with, say, Omen, or Manilla Road's more kinetic moments.

There really isn't a whole lot to say about this, in all honesty, except that it fucking rocks. Just steel solid, no frills heavy metal. Thanks for bringing it to my attention, Acrobat

Infant Annihilator are well known to sell their albums on Iron Maiden - Killers tapes that they recorded their stuff over. And they're in the process of figuring out how to burn over pressed Beherit and Darkthrone CDs.